Rainbow Over Sunnydale Chapter 14
by Joseph Black
Disclaimer: Red Storm and Tom Clancy own Rainbow and Characters. Joss Whedon owns Buffy and Characters. Anyone else belongs to me. I make no profit of the following except to have a little fun.
Spoilers: Buffy to present. Rainbow to Bear and the Dragon.
Authors note 1: I am adjusting the Buffy time line slightly, this fic starts right after 'Never Leave Me', moving things back about a month.
Authors note 2: I have been unable to get Fanfic to accept my special formating. So from now on if you see '* it means that the speaker is speaking a foreign language. If you see '[*]' then it is the persons thoughts.
Notes to reviewers:
Thanks to Ack, Catlmere, and X-lander for reviewing.
Jiltanith: Working on it.
Majin Gojira: No worry about turning Buffy into a gunbunny. I know she has made her position clear on a bunch of occasions.
fastpilot: Yeah somehow TV and the movies seem to gloss over those kinds of little problems when they stick someone into that kind of situation.
The trollhammer is probably made out of Eog or something similar. I doubt that DU would take a spell well.
And I don't think that you have to suspend disbelieve at all. A couple of years ago a two guys in body armor, armed with AK's tried to rob a bank. When it blew up in their faces they commenced one of the biggest shootouts in Law Enforcement history. The cops were seriously out gunned so they borrowed a couple of AR-15 sporters from a local gun shop to even the odds. That happened in LA.
LMiC2001: Considering how well your wish that my muse would be more fruitful has gone, do you think you could wish that I win the lottery? I could use the cash.
Marcus Rowland: No Marcus you haven't missed anything. Ranger Bob is a pure OC.
Mad Minute: Would you believe that Hemstead is on the Id so that if Ding looses it on a mission they won't know where he is stationed? No huh? Okay how about, That Rainbow has been secretly transferred to Hemstead so they are closer to faster transportation? Not that either eh? The secretary at Hereford made a typing error? (Okay, I'll go back and change it.)
Thanks to all that reviewed. Constructive criticisms always welcomed. Flames cheerfully ignored.
Gerry's Hunting Supply
RD 3 Route 46
Sunnydale CA
26Oct2002
0832 hours
Gerry Johnson was sitting behind the counter in his shop. A soft glow of contentment suffused his body. This had been the best week in the history of his store. He had sold 4 Barret Light 50's, with 3 more on order. He had sold both of his BMG .50 cal bolt-action rifles. His paramiltary selection was down to a couple of M-1's both Garands, and carbines. All told he had probably cleared close to eighty grand that week. The bell on the front door rang and Gerry glanced up and smiled as Robert Broadman came in followed by a Hispanic dressed in US Army camouflage, and a short cute blond girl dressed in jeans and dark blue pull over shirt. The two men came up to the counter but the girl seemed to be interested in his crossbow section.
"Hey Robert how goes. You won't believe the week I've had." He said by way of greeting.
Buffy listened to the men exchange greetings. Frankly guns held zero interest for her. She had never been very fond of them, and getting shot last May did nothing to improve her opinion. She realized that Ding needed something so she wouldn't begrudge the stop. But that family situation had to be getting desperate and she wanted to get up there.
Buffy stopped and stared at the crossbow. Its stock and pistol grip of the crossbow were of black metal, the arms were fiberglass, and the main body was made of brass. The sign above the crossbow said that it had 175 lbs. arms. That was an improvement over her current bow. Buffy also saw that there was a 250-lbs. set of arms available too. Buffy turned the price tag over and winced. Well once she got her bills paid off she would be able to afford this. Maybe the owner would be willing to put it on lay-away?
"Bad or Good?" The ranger asked.
"Excellent!" The owner of the shop enthused, "A couple more weeks like that and I might be able to retire!"
"Happy for you," the ranger told him, " I'd be less happy if your shop closed though."
"You obviously miss the purpose of retiring," Gerry kidded him, "Who's your friend?"
"This is Domingo Chavez," Broadman introduced the other man, "He's going to be helping me out. I have a family of three treed up in the Mesa Alto. He doesn't have a rifle and I was wondering if it would be possible to borrow one?"
"Since it's you sure," He said. He looked Ding over and decided that Ding might know what he was doing, so he asked, "What's your pleasure?"
Ding looked the shop over and saw a lot of empty slots in the gun racks, "What do you have paramilitary?" Ding finally asked.
Gerry shook his head, "You picked the wrong week for that my friend. About the only things I have left are some old M-1's. There in good shape though, cleaned and serviced them myself." He told the other man.
"I never used stripper clips before, and I don't want to try to figure them out in the middle of a fight. What else do you have?" Ding asked.
"Where'd all your stuff go?" Broadman asked. "I mean who's holding the war?"
"Haven't you heard?" Gerry asked, clearly shocked that Broadman was that far out of the loop.
"What?" The Ranger asked.
"Something big and nasty has come to town. So everyone is stocking up. Word on the street is that it's gunning for The Slayer. Mendy was in this morning for O'Conell, he picked up my last Barret, and he grabbed a couple of FN-FAL's that I had. He said that whatever it was hit the Slayer's place last night."
Buffy heard what the storekeeper had told the two men so she wandered over to the conversation. She came up behind Ding and asked the shopkeeper, "What else is being said on the street?"
Gerry looked the small blond over, "I don't know you," He said.
"Oh I'm sorry, how rude of me," Buffy told him, "I'm Buffy, … the Vampire Slayer," She said in a tone that one usually used for a four year old.
"Er…uh…oh…" Gerry said, giving Broadman a look that said, 'you could of told me!'
Broadman for his part shrugged, 'you didn't ask!'
"I'm Sorry Ms…Err Buffy," He finished as realized that he didn't know Buffy's last name. "I don't really know much more than that."
"There's nothing about who this big bad is?" Buffy interrogated.
"The only thing I know is that Willy the bartender says," he looked at Buffy, but continued when she indicated she new who he was talking about, "he said that the last time business was this bad was when The First was in town."
"Fancy that," Buffy said to herself.
"Look," Broadman said, "You can interrogate Gerry when we get back, Dr. Sanchez and her kids need help."
Buffy didn't like it but agreed.
Ding scanned the shop, then said to Gerry, "If I can't get anything with a high capacity mag, then I'll have to go for stopping power."
"Fair enough," Gerry said going down to the far end of the rack form the paramilitary stuff. Reaching up he took a large bolt action rifle off the wall, "This is a Weatherby Mk. V .460 Mag. With this gun you can hunt the biggest game on Earth. Elephants, Rhino's, Light Armor Vehicles."
Ding smiled, "But it's bolt action, I'd like something with a little faster rate of fire."
"Okay," Gerry said, apparently unperturbed. He put the Weatherby back and took a gun down that was a couple of slots down from it. This gun appeared to the uninitiated to be a small bore double barrel shot gun. "This is and H&H double rifle in .375 Mag. It's rate-of-fire is as fast as you can pull the triggers. I also have some partition points in .375 if you want them"
Ding shook his head again, "Only two shots."
Buffy sighed to herself, obviously Ding had never heard of 'beggars can't be choosers'. She didn't begrudge him though. In fact she was grateful that Gerry seemed to like showing off his stock. She knew how important the correct weapon for a given situation was.
Gerry then said, "Well that kind of limits the choice to one." Buffy watched as Gerry took down a gun that to her looked like a cowboy rifle on steroids, "This is a Marlin .444, it can take down anything on this continent. It has a five shot tubular magazine, and is lever action. This gun also has a clip on the lever so your rate of fire is as fast as you can work the action."
"Works for me," Ding agreed.
"Okay when you bring it back just drop it off. Don't bother to clean it I'll do that," Gerry instructed Ding as he set the rifle down on the counter top and produced two boxes of shells.
"That won't be necessary," Ding replied as he produced his wallet and removed an American Express card. "I'll take the rifle, and four boxes of shells. Also put the Weatherby away I'll pick that up when we come back down the mountain. I'll take 4 boxes of cartridges for that one too. Buffy? Grab that Crossbow you were admiring."
"Ding I can't let you get that for me, it's almost five hundred dollars," Buffy said.
"Don't worry about I'll get paid back for it," Ding assured her.
Buffy not needing to be told twice went over and grabbed the crossbow and the heavier arms.
Ding watched as Buffy got her new toy and turned and looked at Gerry, "Can you get anymore Barrets in soon?" He asked.
"I have a couple on order, I can probably get 2-3 more in by Thursday," Gerry told the commando.
"Okay order two then," Ding told him. "Put what ever deposit you need on this tab."
"How much ammo will you need for them?" Gerry asked as he wrote down the order.
"Ammo won't be a problem, I just want the weapons, and 3 extra clips for each," Ding told him.
"Right," Gerry said.
Buffy put the crossbow on the counter so Gerry could ring it up. Ding took the Marlin and looked it over, "Is there anywhere that I can put a couple of rounds through this so I can see how it's zeroed?" He asked the owner of the shop.
"Sure out back I have a range. I'll get the arms replaced on Buffy's crossbow and get the paper work started for everything. You can sign it when you get back to town. Robert could you show him how to get to the shooting range?" Gerry requested.
Robert Broadman just grunted and waved for Ding to follow him.
Gerry took the crossbow from Buffy and unstrung the bow. Taking an allan wrench he loosened the screw that held the arms of the crossbow in place and removed the old arms. Buffy watched him with interest as he took the heavy arms and mounted them into the body of the bow. He then took the mounting string and partially bent the arms of the bow back so he could get the main bowstring on. Once he was done he handed the bow back to Buffy.
Buffy took it and sighted down the body of the bow. It was lighter than her old one, but the arms where about 4 times stronger. She smiled, the vamps where in for a surprise with this one.
"If you would hand it back I'll show you how to cock it," Gerry said.
Buffy just raised an eyebrow at him and reaching forward she hooked two fingers of her right hand around the bowstring and pulled, "Like this?" She asked sweetly, enjoying the surprise on his face.
Any doubt that Gerry had that this was in fact The Slayer disappeared, "Well that's one way yeah," he agreed. "But if you get hurt or one of your friends has to use it there's an easier way to do it."
"Okay, show me," Buffy said smiling.
Gerry took the bow and coming out from behind the counter he broke the crossbow across his knee pushing down on both ends till the arms on the side of the body of the bow caught the string and pulled it back to full cock.
Buffy looking on with interest just said, "Neat!"
Ding and Broadman came back then, "Thanks for your help Gerry," Broadman said as they passed through the shop. Buffy collected the bow, released the string and started for the door too.
"Sure," Gerry said. "Just don't forget to stop and do the paperwork when you are through!" Oh yeah, this had been a very good week.
1630 Revello Drive
Sunnydale CA.
26Oct2002
0850 hours
Mr. Clark had already found two invisible 'demons'. Neither had paned out though. The first had been a mischief sprite. Clark was going to dismiss it out of hand when he read that it was only about six inches tall, but Willow told him that size wasn't a true indicator of power. But then they noticed that this critter had wings so they passed on it. The next thing he ran across Clark certainly thought would qualify, but on further reading he decided that it would have just knocked the tree down and eaten the family. "Are all these things in these books real?" He asked the table.
"We're not sure," Willow said. "But we have encountered enough of them to guess yes."
Clark shook his head and went back to reading. The front door opened and Xander came in. "Morning all," He called as he came in. Seeing everyone around the table he said, "What's up?"
"We had a visitor this morning, a forest ranger had a family treed and asked Buffy for help." Dawn explained not looking up from her book.
"Boy you guys didn't waste anytime getting her integrated into the system did you," he asked Clark.
"What?" Clark asked confused.
"Having the Rangers coming to her for help," Xander said a little heatedly.
"The only person I talked to since I met you guys was Dan Murray, and he knew before I did," Clark returned.
"The Ranger found out about Buffy from the local cops," Willow told Xander.
"Huh?" Xander asked. "The same cops that we have been protecting for the last seven years because they wouldn't believe us about the what goes on and would only get killed?"
"Yep, them," Willow said.
"I am not happy," Xander said.
"Neither was Buffy, I hope we get to see when she has talks with them," Willow passed on.
"What's out there?" Xander said as he sat down and grabbed a book.
"Maybe it's invisible velociraptors?" Andrew suggested from the living room.
"Andrew," Willow said, "If you can't be quiet like Anya told you to, I can help you be."
Andrew suddenly found that the TV was very interesting.
"I think I got it!" Anya said excitedly.
"What?" Willow asked.
"They're called Shadow Hounds," Anya said. "Wizards use them to find and kill people. The power of the wizard decides how many hounds they get. The big problem with them is if the hounds loose the 'scent' then they instantly go feral and hunt what ever crosses their path. They aren't invisible though, they are just really good chameleons."
"Where would they have come from though?" Dawn asked, "How many wizards are there around here?"
"Maybe Willow summoned them last May when she was after Jonathan and me?" Andrew offered.
"Excuse me," Anya said. She got up from the table grabbed a roll of duck tape and stuck a piece of it over Andrews mouth.
"I hate to agree with Andrew," Clark said, "but what's the chance of that's what happened?"
Unseen in the living room Andrew took on a vindicated expression.
"You better hope that's not what happened," Anya said returning to the table.
"Why?" Clark asked.
"Because," she said as she took her seat, "then there would be about 30 of them out there."
The Situation Briefing Room
The White House
Washington DC.
26Oct2002
1210 hours
Jack was meeting with Tony Bretano, his Secretary of Defense, and Lt. General Mickey Moore, his Joint Chief of Staff. Tony was going over what forces were available to help in the situation in Sunnydale. "So do the SEAL's still look good?" Jack asked.
"So far," The SecDef said, "I'd like a chance to dig a little deeper though before we give the okay for them to go in."
"Do we have any other choice? If Billingsly is controlling that army base then he has the better part of a company of troops at his disposal. Even with both Rainbow Teams and Riley's people there that's a little lopsided." Jack told him.
"Agreed, but when Mickey and I were knocking around ideas we realized that Billingsly has limited his recruiting to Special Forces command," Tony told him.
"Yeah so?" Jack asked.
"Well it means that we can never be completely certain of any of those troops, but it also means that regular army units are in the clear," he continued.
"Go on," Jack said, not really seeing where this was going.
"Fort Irwin is within two hours of Sunnydale," Tony said, "The OpFor are the best troops that we have. We doubt that Billingsly could have co-opteded the whole Sunnydale base. We think that if we remove the senior cadre and replace it with loyal people then we can turn a threat into an asset.
To act as a hedge we would give the person we put in charge a platoon of the 11 ACR for security. We would send them all in together to effect the change of command." Tony explained.
"Do you have anyone in mind as this commander?" Jack asked.
"Major Sheila Decker," the JCS said. "She is on my staff as an assistant ops officer. She was one of the original candidates chosen when we started to allow women to command combat units. She missed both Gulf Wars, but she has been through the NTC twice, once as a platoon leader, then as a company commander. She had commendations both times. I think she is the best person for the job." The General finished.
"Okay set it up," Jack ordered the two men. "We'll wait until Team 3 and Rainbow are spun up in Sunnydale before we implement anything though."
"Sure Jack," Bretano said as he and the General stood and left.
"Mr. President, this is the half hour break you requested," His secretary told him.
"Thank you Ellen," Jack told her, "Could you get me an outside line please?"
"Of course Sir," She said.
Jack opened a drawer and pulled out his personal phone book. Looking up a number he entered it and waited for an answer.
The voice that that came over the receiver was formal and British, "Yes, Cheltingham," it said.
"This is Jack Ryan, is Sir Basil home?" He asked.
"Yes sir he is, one moment please," The voice responded.
About forty second's later Sir Basil's voice came on the line. "Mr. President, what may Her Majesty's Government help you with?"
"Actually Sir Basil it's a personal question," Jack told his friend on the other side of the Atlantic.
"Well then Sir John, how may I help you?" Basil responded.
"What can you tell me about the Watchers Council?" Jack asked.
"They're dead," replied the Englishman.